Documents: Anesthetic found in Jackson home

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, March 26, 2010

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Unsealed search warrants in the Michael Jackson case reveal large quantities of general anesthetic and dozens of tubes of skin-whitening creams were among items found in the singer’s home after his death.

Investigators went to Jackson’s rented mansion June 29 following a lengthy interview with his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who told them he had placed a medical bag in a cupboard in a closet.

At the home, detectives found 11 containers of the powerful anesthetic propofol, some of them empty, as well as a range of sedatives and various medical items including a box of blood pressure cuffs, according to the warrants, which were redacted and unsealed Friday after The Associated Press filed a legal motion.

Jackson’s June 25 death at age 50 was ruled a homicide caused by an overdose of propofol and other sedatives. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

During their search, detectives found 19 tubes of hydroquinone and 18 tubes of Benoquin, both of which are commonly used in the treatment of a skin condition Jackson had called vitiligo. The disease creates patches of de-pigmented skin, and creams can be used to lighten skin that has retained its color to give a more even appearance.

The discovery of medical creams in Jackson’s home dovetails with an odd remark Murray reportedly made soon after Jackson’s death.

According to police statements obtained by the AP, Jackson’s personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, told detectives that in the hospital where Jackson was pronounced dead, Murray told him he wanted to return to Jackson’s house “so that he could pick up some cream that Mr. Jackson has so that the world wouldn’t find out about it.”

Alberto Alvarez, Jackson’s logistics director, who was summoned to the stricken star’s side as he was dying, told police Murray interrupted CPR on the pop star to collect drug vials. He gave the vials and an IV line with a milky substance resembling propofol to Alvarez, according to the statement Alvarez gave police, and told him to put them in bags that were similar in description to those later found in the closet.